San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1887-05-05
The Alleged Railroad from Smithvilie
via Kyle TO Blanco.--Itesume OF q
Bogus Boom.

tempt which was started O month or
so later 10 "whistle them down the
wind" by the most positive, yet I'M
founded, assertions that San Marcos
had been "sold" by the railroad COM
pany, and that the road was really TO
go from Smithviile TO Kyle-leaving
Lockhart also out in the cold-and
then was TO be extended to Blanco.
The facts as TO the extension here
were we'll known to all who cared to
know the truth. These facts were
in brief, that Vice President Hooper,
then at Austin, himself volunteered
the offer on behalf of his company,
to some Of our leading citizens, that
If San Marcos would furnish the
right of way to Lockhart, they would
extend the road here, and begin work
from this point within certain lin
tied time; that the representatives OF
our town came home and at once laid
the proposition before our people;
that it was accepted, the bulk of the
money subscribed in few hours, the
papers signed, and the whole matter
finally settled to the satisfaction of
all concerned. All, too, was open
aud above board, and in the face of
active competition. Jay Gould him.
self had passed along the line just be-
fore, and had been interviewed by
various interested parties, Kyle had
"put in her best lick" all to no pur-
pose. 1t was conceded by all, Kyle
and Blanco included, that San Mar
cos had fairly won the prize; and we
noticed with pleasure that only good
feeling seemed to prevail among the
contestants,
But presto, change! Suddenly the
bogus boom of which we have spoken
was sprung on the public. We will
do the great body of the people of
Kyle the justice to say that we don't
believe they had anything to do with
getting up this foolish cry, or took
any interest in it save to laugh ct its
absurdity and the monumental
cheek" it displayed. 1t began with
the famous Rogers interview as pa
raded in the Kyle Times. This we
have published and sufficiently COM
mented upon. But the cry was taken
up and sent reverberating over the
hills to Blanco, Witness the follow
ing extract from a letter from the Kyle
correspondent of the Star Vindicator
RAILROAD NEWS.
Oh, that we had great big rooster, how
he would crow! We have it from reliable
source that Kyle will be the favored place
yet on the Bastrop extension of the Miss
ouri Pacific and she is going to get it with
out dollar. The II. II. company has just
purchased league of land 10 or IL miles
northeast of Lockhart, in Caldwell county,
and about Is miles from Kyle on direct
line from Kyle to Smithville where this ex-
tension will be started from for the West.
They have purchased this amount and are
negotiating for another. The plan is now
very plain to nil as to what they are fixing
to do. From Smithville they will build
direct to this point when they have pur-
chased this laud, there make depot and
build I'D a town that will be nothing to be
sneezed Mt as il is one of the richest parts
of the state and settling up fast. From
there they will come to Kyle and thence to
Blanco and on to Fredericksburg, there be-
ing natural route to those places. This is
no dream or surmise but is an actual fact for
we know whereof we speak, Lockhart now
has very little hope for this extension, aud
San Marcos has abandoned all hope of ever
securing it. Let Blanco put on our new
clothes and be ready to receive it, for the
road is coming sure.
Reader, there is richness for you!
"Lockhart now has very little hope
for this extension, and San Marcos
has abandoned all hope of ever see
ing it"Q We have not for a long
while noticed q better sample of reck-
less looseness of statement in def
ance of well known facts.
Now the question arises, how did
this remarkable ''cock and bull story"
originate? We have not, of course,
positive knowledge on the subject,
but all the circumstances indicate
that this bogus boom was born of
the preternatural mental and moral
precocity of 1.-THE most extensive land
owner in Hays county" and sanity
ex-Methodist preacher, Rev. Col.
Rogers himself, playing on the gull
Utility Of supplemented gudgeons
ready to bite at the naked hook. His
interview with the Kyle Times, and
va rious points in the above extract
pretty clearly indicate this fact But
we have still clearer proof in the fol
lowing editorial from the Tines some